If you’ve spotted Santa driving a Stagecoach bus today in either Preston or Chorley with a passenger that looks suspiciously elf-like don’t worry, your eyes are not deceiving you!

They have been doing the rounds of local workplaces, schools and shops at the invitation of the charity team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

The team tasked them to help with the collection of gifts for its this year’s ‘Give a Gift this Christmas’ project.

The project’s aim is to ensure all patients, who find themselves on a ward in the Royal Preston or Chorley and South Ribble Hospital on Christmas Day, have a gift to open.

Santa is joined by Mrs Christmas, Elf and Dan Hill (right), head of charities for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, on the ‘Give a Gift this Christmas’ bus that is travelling round Preston and Chorley

placeholder image — Santa is joined by Mrs Christmas, Elf and Dan Hill (right), head of charities for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, on the ‘Give a Gift this Christmas’ bus that is travelling round Preston and Chorley

It means the charity team has to acquire and wrap approximately 2,000 Christmas presents suitable for men, women and children of all ages.

Dan Hill, the trust’s head of charities, who is also on the bus helping to collect gift donations, said: “The response we have had from the companies, schools and stores we have visited so far today, which wanted to be involved in the project, has been amazing. The generosity of our local community is both heart-warming and also, humbling. Adults and children have come forward with beautiful gift donations that cannot fail but to make patients feel that bit better on Christmas Day. Thank you to everyone for their fantastic support.”

To support the ‘Give a Gift this Christmas’ project, click on the link on the charity’s website at www.lthcharity.org.uk